Soccer: ZZ Top

THERE was nearly an hour on the clock when Marseille’s most famous supporter, Zinedine Zidane, ended hopes of a shock result in their first Champions League game of the season.

Marseille were 2-1 down despite taking an early lead at the Santiago Bernabeu, when the French side won a corner.

The ball broke to Real defender Roberto Carlos on the edge of his penalty area and his short pass released Zidane.

The midfielder skipped one challenge and ran 20, 30, 40 yards towards the Marseille goal. The Marseille defenders refused to tackle Zidane their coach Alain Perrin later described them as "frozen with fear and hesitation" and he released Ronaldo, whose first-time shot beat goalkeeper Vedran Runje to make it 3-1.

The game finished 4-2 and Zidane was glad when it was over. "When I was a youngster, I always used to stand behind the goal at Marseille's Velodrome stadium and no one can take that away from me," he said.

"Once that match at the Bernabeu was finished, I was 100% behind Marseille and I was hoping they won all their other matches."

Tonight, Zidane returns to the Velodrome for the return match with Real, who have already made it to the knock-out phase of the competition. Marseille have just lost back-to-back games against Porto and need to beat the Spanish champions to even have a chance of progressing.

"I think it will be much harder for us at the Velodrome," Zidane conceded. "I'm from Marseille so it's really important for me: obviously in Madrid people will talk about the match a lot less.

"But I'm sure many in Marseille would have dreamed of this draw. It's fabulous for them and I'm sure it will be a great occasion for me. I just hope I don't get booed or jeered."

There is little chance of that: even after his cameo in the first game, the travelling Marseille fans in Madrid were chanting, "Zizou, Zizou," in appreciation of his skills. One popular restaurant on Marseille's main seaside promenade still has a giant painting of Zidane dominating one wall.

"That is a great honour," Zidane smiled. "The picture and the caption 'Made in Marseille' mean a lot to me."

Marseille winger Steve Marlet is out until next year with an ankle injury but Zidane has already warned his team-mates that the opposition have strength in depth.

"Marseille are looking in much better shape than in recent years. They've become a really solid team which defends well: I'm not surprised to see them doing so well, they're very well-organised and capable of bringing the ball out of defence very quickly.

"I get the feeling that Marseille are ready to take back their place in Europe don't forget the team was one of the best on the continent for five or six years at the beginning of the 1990s.

"Even if the team doesn't get talked about so much in Spain, they deserve our respect: people in Madrid know Marseille is a big club. They are a bit Italian in style, but they also have individuals who can make the difference on the counter-attack.

"It will be a pleasure to play them again, even if it will be emotionally much tougher when I run out on the field at the Velodrome. It will be strange for me. It will be one of the rare games where Most of my friends and family will be cheering on the other team."

Zidane grew up in Marseille but never actually played for the club: instead he was signed by Cannes, with whom he made his European bow in the 1991-92 UEFA Cup. His last

European match, against Partizan Belgrade three weeks ago, was his 88th in the Champions League and broke Didier Deschamps's record for French men in the competition. "Numbers don't interest me that much. But of course I'm happy as it means I have lasted and it's not over.

"It's also proof I have made good choices by joining the biggest clubs in Europe. When you think about it, my progression has been consistent.

"I discovered European football with Bordeaux, Juventus taught me what the top level really was and when I joined Real Madrid I was ready for the most successful side in European football."

After losing to Juventus in last season's semi-final, success this time is essential. "Last season, in a way, came down to just two games," said Zidane. "First of all, the 5-1 home defeat to Real Mallorca, which forced us to battle it out for the title right to the end and cost us a considerable amount of effort and energy to lift the title.

"And then in the Champions League, the horrible match against an extraordinary Juventus team in the semi-final return leg."

The team is different now that Carlos Queiroz has replaced Vicente del Bosque as coach while Fernando Hierro and Claude Makelele are among 10 players to have left.

"Every coach brings his style and Carlos will succeed at Madrid because it's all about producing attacking football. I liked Vicente very much but I have found that Carlos's arrival has not provoked any great rupture it's all a continuation, really."

That's not to say there have been no changes under the new man: Zidane began this season in central midfield to accommodate David Beckham on the right and allow Luis Figo to move to the left.

"For the last two seasons, it's been very simple," he explained. "I was on the left even if when we were attacking I would often drift inside.

"It was for the good of the team, for its balance and I was adapting to the needs of the squad. The team did well like that, though often I lacked passing solutions when I had the ball. The solution was either to dribble past someone and I'm not really a winger or to play the ball backwards which would slow down the game.

"I was repositioned in the middle where I had more possibilities open to me, even though I was a little bit less attacking and dropped back a little bit to link the play."

In the last six weeks, Queiroz has moved Beckham into the middle and allowed Zidane to return to his favoured spot on the left.

The result has been a success despite practical difficulties: "I hardly talk to David," Zidane admitted. "He doesn't speak Spanish and I don't speak English. But on the field, we do understand each other."

ZIDANE continued: "Each season Real Madrid has shown its capacity to integrate a major signing. We are not just made up of individuals, we've got a whole squad of people who get on well together and who read the game intelligently.

"Becks' arrival means that each one of us has a little less responsibility and roles will be shared. Everybody is a playmaker in his own way, there isn't just one player in charge of creating and hogging the ball.

"Raul and Ronaldo can also be play-makers at certain moments, as can Ivan Helguera and Roberto Carlos. That means that not one of us has the pressure of being the guy who inspires the team."

Zidane is being disingenuous here: no matter how clever Raul can be, and Ronaldo decisive, Roberto Carlos quick or Figo creative, the Frenchman is the soul of the Real team.

When he plays well, Real play well. As sports director Jorge Valdano put it: "He is one of those players that make our intelligence happy. When he touches the ball, things happen in a way that links football with common sense.

"He is not very quick, not very strong, not a great goal-scorer; and not much of anything really. He is different because he uses football's classical values: he knows when to stop, when to think, when to clarify a move, those things that give breathing space to today's football, a game everyday more scatter-brained."

Marseille defender Daniel van Buyten was more concise: "Zizou is the most complete player in the world, he's just so good technically. He doesn't have any weaknesses."

Zidane will take his flawless game to his hometown but will find it tough if Real win tonight and knock Marseille out. "Before the Champions League draw," he said, "a friend of mine predicted that Real would be in the same group as Marseille. As I've always been a fan, it's going to be a rather difficult game for me.

"I would have liked it to come later and am still hoping that both Real and Marseille get through. I hope Real win but I don't want to score. There again, I say that now, but if I get a chance, I will obviously take it."